Has Josh McDaniels talked to the assistants he “hired” in Indy?

Posted by Mike Florio on February 7, 2018, 6:23 AM EST

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When it comes to the spurning of the Colts by Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, it’s hard to feel bad for the team that proclaimed to the world that a deal was done before a deal was actually done. It’s hard not to feel bad, however, for the assistant coaches who were hired by McDaniels, as a practical matter, to work with McDaniels in Indy.

Those men have been caught in the gears of a nonsensical rule that allows winking and nodding as to the head coach, but that results in contracts being signed — and lives potentially being turned upside down — by the assistants.

One of the issues that emerged in the wake of McDaniels treating the Colts like a bad batch of McDonald’s is whether McDaniels has spoken to the people most affected by Josh changing his mind. And one media outlet has both sides of the story covered.

Dianna Russini of ESPN reported shortly before 10:00 p.m. ET that “several members” of McDaniels’ shoulda-woulda-coulda staff in Indianapolis had not yet heard from him. Josina Anderson of ESPN reported that McDaniels has “spoken to every one” of the coaches with whom he would have worked in Indy, and that he spoke to them “a while ago, shortly after [talking to] Indy.”

Whatever the truth may be, ESPN is covered either way. Which is another reason for ESPN’s editors and producers to perhaps consider some sort of procedure for ensuring harmony in tweeting among the small army of reporters who cover the NFL. While it’s somewhat surprising that this doesn’t happen more often, the best approach would be for it to happen never.

“it’s hard to feel bad for the team that proclaimed to the world that a deal was done before a deal was actually done”.

it’s actually not hard at all. The colts had assumed Josh was a man of his word and even moved forward with his assistant coachimg hires and halted interviews with other candidates. This is 100% on Josh. I suppose you can blame the colts for assuming he was a man of integrity.

Probably got a closer look at Irsay or more importantly Luck and decided A) I’m not working for Irsay or B) his QB project is an unknown broken good at this point.

Feel bad for the coaches that were hired though, but no one else. Maybe if the NFL didn’t allow this back crap to happen it wouldn’t be an issue. How about the NFL not be in a rush so much and say no teams can interview until the NFL season has commenced

Were these men given promotions as is typical for coaches following a new head coach to a new team? If so, it’s possible that they may still be very happy with their new opportunities? If not, that is much, much worse on McDaniels.

As noted in the twitter thread, one reporter claimed to have talked to the coaches directly and the other talked to sources. The source was most likely someone close to McDaniels if not McDaniels himself. I tend to believe the reporter who talked directly with the coaches, rather than McDaniels PR guy.

Indy GM and owner have to take part of the blame here. How do you sign up coaching assistants before you have locked up your Head Coach with his actual signature on the contract? Always a chance that Josh would not leave New England. I feel for these coaches who signed in good faith but major blame falls on the Colts GM and Irsay for putting the cart before the horse.

The NFL should ban all hiring, contact, and contract negotiations with any NFL personnel under current contracts until AFTER the Superbowl. That way everyone starts from the same point, and the Colts would never have gotten to this point, and MAYBE Detroit would have second thoughts

The Colts are kind of stuck with the contracts for the assistants now I would assume?

If McDaniels had backed out a month ago, nobody would have cared but to do so that late in the game-especially after indicating to the Colts which assistants to hire is pretty dirty. Now the Colts will either be stuck having to pay several million in dead contracts or finding a HC who is willing to come in with a staff already assembled for him.

I could see the NFL moving to forbid any coaching interviews until the day following the Super Bowl in response to this.

Josh McDaniels is as unscrupulous as the team he works for. I am no Indy fan, no Luck fan, but they dodged a bullet with this one. Sorry about the assistants but they signed contracts before the supposed HC did which is a risk, especially knowing his history and coming from a culture where integrity is second to winning (Integrity should be first, by the way, Pats fans).

We likely don’t have to feel too bad about the assistants, assuming they keep their intended jobs. Speaking for the one I know a good deal about, Mr. Eberflus, he didn’t have any particular tie to McDaniels that I knew about, and took the job because he was excited to get a DC gig. As long as he gets to be the DC, I’m sure it’ll be the same to him either way.

I’M NOT EVEN A COLTS FAN AND IT WAS A CREEPY MOVE BY A CREEPY MAN FROM A CHEATING CREEPY FRANCHISE. YOU MAKE A COMMITMENT YOU STICK TO IT. HE PUT THE COLTS IN A VERY STICKY SITUATION WITH ASSISTANTS ALREADY HIRED AND UNDER CONTRACT NOW A NEW COACH HAS TO WORK WITH THEM NO MATTER IF HE LIKES THEM OR NOT. CLASSLESS MOVE

Michael E says:
February 7, 2018 at 7:17 am
He figured he should wait and see if Jason Garrett makes it past next season. Every coach wants the Cowboys gig.
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I refuse to believe you or anybody else actually believes this. Nobody wants that job, that’s why Garrett is the HC.

Kraft goes to McDaniels and says something to the effect that he will give McDaniels a fat check (cash better) if he stays with the Pats for another year, after which BB retires And the job is his. McDaniels is told to make up some home and family schmaltz BS for the media as the reason. Everything is cool. Should work, eh?

Maybe he found out tha the GM was planning to tank a 1-15 season again and decided against it.

As far as “No one will ever hire him again”, that’s ludicrous. It might be accurate to say that “the colts will ever hire him again”. I am pretty sure if Jeff frikken Fisher and that coach from Detroit can find another job, and Jon Gruden can get rehired by Oakland, so can five time superbowl champ Josh.

What would be really funny would be if he did the same thing to the colts two years from now, THAT would be hilarious.

I could see the NFL moving to forbid any coaching interviews until the day following the Super Bowl in response to this.
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And I personally would be 100% OK with that. And should be same in NCAA D1 too. No interviews till after the Nat Championship has been played.

talked to them, didn’t talk to them- whatever. I’m sure there are plenty of “reporters” willing to stand on either side of the issues so the media types can bounce that around like a beach ball the next few days.

As he wasn’t employed by the Colts he couldn’t hire any assistants, merely recommended them – and did the Colts actually hire who he wanted? – you’re all assuming one side of the story in your salty hate, which is a Colts org that has a track record of being vague and misleading with simple facts.

Why would anyone want to coach a team that was part of a sting operation involving Goodell and the Ravens to frame Brady for something that according to Aaron Rodgers, every QB does, and the NFL never seemed to care until their sting operation of the Patriots?

Maybe he found out tha the GM was planning to tank a 1-15 season again and decided against it.

As far as “No one will ever hire him again”, that’s ludicrous. It might be accurate to say that “the colts will ever hire him again”. I am pretty sure if Jeff frikken Fisher and that coach from Detroit can find another job, and Jon Gruden can get rehired by Oakland, so can five time superbowl champ Josh.

What would be really funny would be if he did the same thing to the colts two years from now, THAT would be hilarious
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Its not that hard to imagine him not getting another job. The NFL is a close knit fraternity. If your name goes bad, its hard to get it back. And if you are using Gruden as an example, it took the original owner dying for him to be welcomed back to Oakland. Not a great example.

Why should my heart bleed for these assistant coaches? They chose their profession, and they all likely aspire to be in McDaniels’ position one day, raking in millions. Life isn’t fair. Ask the two good people I had to lay off this week.

As a fan, I have to believe that the Colts can still find a coach that can turn their fortunes around in spite of this organizational disfunction. Someone out there can be the guy that comes in and does so well that this story is largely forgotten by the end of the year. Chris Ballard has to find him. But he’s out there. I believe it.

This happens all the time, coaches agreeing to take a job and we’ll sign the papers later when the league allows. It was no problem doing it this way for the other Patriot coordinator taking the Lions job, so no excuse for the way McDaniel did it other than he’s a jerk with no honor whose word means nothing. Irsay is a jerk and whackjob, but it’s not like he didn’t know that when he agreed to take the job. I feel bad for the Colts organization and fans, not Irsay.